Mayor Ed Murray signed legislation in mid-December creating the Historic Central Area Arts and Cultural District, the second Seattle neighborhood to be named a designated Arts & Cultural District.
The Arts District designation recognizes the Central Area as the center of African-American heritage and history and seeks to preserve its character.
The Historic Central Area Arts & Cultural District designation is dedicated to:
•Preserving an African and African-American legacy in the Central Area.
•Sustaining and strengthening the physical identity and sense of place for black cultural relevancy.
•Establishing continued support of artistic creation, economic vibrancy, livability, affordability, desirability and artistic vitality.
The arts district designation creates access to the Creative Placemaking Toolkit, a suite of tools designed to preserve, strengthen and expand arts and cultural places. The district will have access to $50,000 to be used toward the toolkit’s programs: signs to identify neighborhood borders and provide directions to significant places and landmarks, music and art in public places, pop-up activation and parklets. The toolkit was designed by the Seattle Office Arts and Culture to support artists, art spaces and neighborhoods in maintaining and investing in their cultural assets.
The creation of the Arts & Cultural District program stems from the recommendations of the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee’s June 2009 report, which the Seattle City Council accepted and endorsed with Resolution 31155 in August 2009.
The program launched in November 2014 with the adoption of City Council Resolution 31555 and the creation of the Capitol Hill Arts District.